SCENE I. A sea-port in Sicilia. Winter's Tale  Shakespeare homepage  |  Winter's Tale  | Act 3, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE I. A sea-port in Sicilia. 

 Enter CLEOMENES and DION  CLEOMENES  The climate's delicate, the air most sweet, 

 Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing 

 The common praise it bears. 

 DION  I shall report, 

 For most it caught me, the celestial habits, 

 Methinks I so should term them, and the reverence 

 Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice! 

 How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly 

 It was i' the offering! 

 CLEOMENES  But of all, the burst 

 And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle, 

 Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised my sense. 

 That I was nothing. 

 DION  If the event o' the journey 

 Prove as successful to the queen,--O be't so!-- 

 As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy, 

 The time is worth the use on't. 

 CLEOMENES  Great Apollo 

 Turn all to the best! These proclamations, 

 So forcing faults upon Hermione, 

 I little like. 

 DION  The violent carriage of it 

 Will clear or end the business: when the oracle, 

 Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up, 

 Shall the contents discover, something rare 

 Even then will rush to knowledge. Go: fresh horses! 

 And gracious be the issue! 



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